F.A.N. Newsletter

Bucks County, PA Goes Fluoride-Free
We are happy to report a major fluoride-free victory for the people of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. One of the largest water and sewer authorities in the state serving more than 78,000 accounts and 385,000 people in the southeastern Pennsylvania region has stopped supplying fluoridated water to customers. On July 1, the Bucks County Water & Sewer Authority changed their water supplier from the fluoridated City of Philadelphia to the non-fluoridated supply from Chalfont, PA.
According to the press release from the water authority, customers requested the change and the authority was “happy to announce that customers have a choice to use fluoride or not through [their] dentist instead of being mandated through [their] water supply.”
U.S. Congressman Publicly Opposes Fluoridation
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a republican representing California’s 48^th district and a member of the House Science Committee, said that he opposed fluoridation while giving a speech at a recent event on climate change. While referencing a number of scientific “facts” that he felt weren’t indeed true, he said:

“I remember as a kid, one of the big battles going on was about fluoridation of the water. Well, I don’t know whether or not fluoridating the water helps people’s teeth become better or not. I don’t know that. But, I do know that in this country, we should be the ones who should be deciding what we put into our bodies one way or the other. Not the federal government or the local government putting fluoride into our water. A lot of these things come down to freedom issues. They come down to whether or not we will control our own destiny. The fact that we will be consistent with what our founding fathers had in mind for us in controlling our own lives.”  

While Congressman Rohrabacher isn’t our only ally on Capitol Hill, his public opposition to fluoridation is a big and promising step in the direction of ending the practice at the federal level. That said, we still need more allies in Congress to publicly oppose fluoridation and to call for hearings if we ultimately want to be successful. To this end, FAN will be holding our first ever fluoride lobby-day in Washington, D.C. on September 8. This will be an opportunity for fluoridation opponents from around the U.S. to urge their Senators and House members to join Rep. Rohrabacher in opposition to this outdated practice.